Thursday, March 16, 2017

IRL : Community Of Mount St Joseph Abbey announce that Cistercian College is to Remain Open

It was with great joy that the monks of Mount St Joseph Abbey as
Trustees of Cistercian College Roscrea today announced that the boys’
boarding school on the grounds of the monastery will remain open.

The breakthrough comes just one month after it was announced that
Cistercian College was to close in June of this year due to a dramatic
fall off in student numbers.

Within days a high powered
and dynamic group of volunteers made up of parents and past pupils
formed the CCR Action Group which pledged to devise a restructuring plan
to ensure the future viability of the school.

Over the past month, the CCR Action Group has worked relentlessly to
generate additional investment and boost enrolement by leveraging the
support of the college’s extensive alumni network, parents of existing
and past pupils as well as the local midland’s community.

Following a
period of intense fundraising and strategising undertaken by the CCR
Action Group, the school is now delighted to report this happy news.

The Trustees have paid tribute to the wider school community for its
incredible response which made it possible to reverse last month’s
closure announcement. It said a rescue package, which includes
significant financial contritubitons in the form of personal pledges
totalling in excess of €1.5million, could not have been achieved without
the outstanding efforts of the CCR Action Group and the commitment of
its Chairman, Ronnie Culliton.

“This is one of the most joyous
days in the history of Cistercian College. We have witnessed a small
miracle over the past 4 weeks. The decision to close was an extremely
difficult one for the monastic community to make and so we are
understandably overjoyed to now be in a position to announce that the
college will remain open,” said Dom Richard Purcell, Abbot of Mount St
Joseph Abbey.

“None of this would have been possible without the
incredible efforts of the entire Cistercian College community,
including the staff, the students and their families and the many
thousands of past pupils. We are particularly grateful to CCR Action
Group, chaired by Ronnie Culliton, for its unwavering commitment to
keeping the college open,” Dom Richard continued.

Today’s
announcement means that Cistercian College will accept applications for
September 2017 for day Boarding and 5 day boarding as well as the
traditional 7 day boarding offering.

Based on the results of extensive
quantitative research undertaken by the CCR Action Group, the school is
confident that this new operating model will provide a significant
uplift in enrolement.

A new Board of Management for the school will be
appointed in due course.